


Daybreak

by ExistentialGlitch



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Clones, F/F, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25157143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExistentialGlitch/pseuds/ExistentialGlitch
Summary: When Elisabet Sobeck is awakened from stasis she has three questions, how is she still alive, what year is it, and why is Ted Faro's tribal cousin standing in front of her?--Thanks to Second Dawn and A Lightkeeper in the Dark. Without your stories I wouldn't have had the drive or inspiration to write something like this.
Relationships: Aloy & Elisabet Sobeck
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	Daybreak

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to write this as a way to get some angst and existentialism off my chest. Perhaps we all need a moment with Elisabet.

Elisabet stumbled out into a darkened room. The only source of light was a faint purple that emanated from a nearby console.

“GAIA?” She asked aloud, her voice echoed back at her. No response.

The silence was enough to make her feel sick. She hastily moved forward and fell to her knees onto the decrepit remains of a floor. Dust washed around her in a poof as she noted light coming through the cracks of a semi-sealed door. Instead of getting back up with the aid of the console she crawled until she could put her eyes to the crack. Dawn washed into the room beyond. The door activated lazily and uttered out cryptic groans as if welcoming her into the next room. Cold fresh air hit her face and set her back in shock. _Thankfully she hadn't gone face first into the ground._

“Fresh air?” Again, asking aloud to herself. _Wasn’t she underground?_

Elisabet finally got to her feet despite her legs aching horrifically. She carefully staggered through the red and orange lit room to find herself surrounded by more ruins. Ice hung thick and unyielding in nearly every direction. She clung to her sweater and rubbed at her arms ever so often as she trudged through the mess. Eventually she stood on the edge of a large drop-off and her first instinct was to look down. Her legs shook as she realized the depths that unfolded beneath her. Hands pulled her back in.

She looked back with fear across her face as she was met with a man who looked strikingly familiar. Her heart almost stopped as she realized who she was faced with.

_Ted Faro._

Perhaps she was hallucinating, or it was the aftereffects of stasis after an unknown quantity of days. Or she was in some strange afterlife that she hadn’t planned for. Whatever it was, she was actually more confused than angry.

“How?” Elisabet asked in a hushed voice. “How in the _fuck_?”

“I’m not who you think I am.” He replied in an even tone. “I'm not the plague bringer.”

The red head looked him up and down and noted the scrappy appearance and a severe scar travelling his cheek down past his fur and presumably to his neck. His hair was long and tied back in a bun with a few dreads here and there coupled with a braided beard. He had a bow on his back and a repaired (she could tell from the hasty metallic add-ons) Focus resting on a leather string worn as a necklace. 

“Explain. Now.” She hissed, knowing she had no leverage to pose any threat at this point. “Or I’ll-“She glared, grit her teeth and then proceeded to get up in his face. She felt like a Karen at a McDonalds wanting to see the man’s manager.

“You’ll freeze to death by the time I finish explaining myself.” He warned with a chuckle, “We should get you some thicker clothing and get you near a fire so you can thaw out more.”

“At least tell me your name.” She insisted as she held back the flow of panic threatening her.

“Kahl.” He answered as he turned to walk away.

Elisabet refused to move despite shivering harder. She glared in his general direction as if her gaze would bring daggers through the backside of his head.

Kahl returned and carefully put a hand to her shoulder. “Come.”

The red head begrudgingly followed the man for what felt like an eternity before they were outside the facility again and faced with a temporary shelter that somewhat resembled a tepee. He ushered her inside and she ducked in behind. He stocked wood to an already existing fire and grabbed some meat, which appeared to be rabbit, roasting near the fire’s edge. He waved at her to sit on a pile of furs. She sat despite her legs screaming at her to stretch. It seemed he had been well prepared for her arrival.

Before she could blink, she was eating freshly roasted rabbit on a stick without hesitation. _Maybe not eating for an indefinite, probably long ass, time was a factor in that reaction._ A water-skin appeared beside her as if by magic, she was sure it was magic, or perhaps the rabbit was just incredibly enthralling. Everything was just so vibrant it threw her in so many different directions that her mind couldn’t catch up with it all.

“You are Doctor Elisabet Sobeck, is that correct?” He asked finally breaking the awkward nom-filled silence.

She looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights and nodded with rabbit bits hanging ajar from her mouth.

“I’m glad to have found you. _A living Old One_.” His eyes cast downward as he said this, “I’ve spent my entire life looking for answers. Ruins upon ruins of lost pieces of history and intrigue. All leading here to a city under a city. It’s just all so fascinating. How did you stay alive for so long?”

“I don’t even really understand how I got from point A to B, honestly.” She spoke, her head feeling like she had stuck it in a beehive. “I’m walking through mounds of ash, sands and debris to get back to my family home. To get an ending. I die and suddenly I’m alive again and inside GAIA Prime, waking up to Ted Faro’s tribal lookalike stopping me from falling off into the abyss. I just- it’s a lot.”

“I would say I understand but that’d be a lie.” He rubbed the back of his head, “I’m sorry for making the decision to wake you. Perhaps that was selfish of m-“

“No, it’s okay. It’s really okay. I’m honestly glad you woke me up even if this is extremely confusing for me. Do you know if anyone else survived?” She questioned despite the bitter taste forming in her mouth.

“I found a room full of corpses.” He replied earnestly, “A fragmented recording played on this tool, but I was unable to fully understand it. Something regarding an ‘Omega Protocol’ and Mr. Faro.”

“Omega Protocol?” Lis’ heart dropped as she furrowed her brow. _Corpses._ _Wherever you walk, Ted, you bring death with you. It’s like you were chosen to be humanity’s bane._

“I’m not sure of what it means or what it was, All I know is that it killed the other Alphas.” He replied.

“God.” She hissed out, “Why me? Why not them?” Her eyes darted downward as tears formed in the corners of her eyes and stung as they streaked down her cheeks.

Kahl went quiet as he tinkered with his focus. He didn’t know what to say. It was a scenario he hadn’t been prepared for despite the knowledge he had accrued as he grew up. “I’m sorry.” He finally said in a tight voice, “I’m sorry I couldn’t save them too.”

“It’s not your fault. It couldn’t be. That was… years ago. _Centuries_ even. Nothing you could have done would’ve prevented it.” She spoke up despite the sound of sadness in the back of her voice, “So, how are you here? I mean that in the nicest way possible, I promise.”

“I was born in an underground facility. No father, no mother. Nothing. A machine took care of me and so did a hologram of an Elder.” He explained, “For the first part of my life I was informed of this destiny I had. To be some savior. The Elder would always add onto the pressure and lore as I grew. Eventually he told me I was destined to be the Ted Faro of the future, the one who saved everyone. Icarus but with the knowledge the sun would melt his wings.”

 _Ted you fucking lunatic_. “So you were raised by Ted’s hologram in his bunker.” _How in the hell had he replicated the lightkeeper protocol? Then again, how in the hell did he kill the Alphas?_

“I learned who he was after I stumbled on a place called Maker’s End. Then I started feeling sick.” He admit as he finally touched his food. “The dolphin incident, the angry people, the forced imprisonment of his workers, and yet he had the audacity to argue with you about funding your project. I don’t even understand why such a foolish man could even dream of cloning himself and making him roam the new world to undo something barely anyone would ever know about.”

All of what he had mentioned had thrown her into a small sense of anxiety that one might call an existential crisis. She tapped her fingers against the ground with one hand absently as she attempted to calm herself before anything set in. It felt like only a few years ago since she had spoken to Ted about funding but in reality, it had been an indiscernible amount of time between then and now. _Whenever now was._

“Elisabet?” He asked as he noted her lengthy silence. “Have I said too much?”

“No, no, sorry. Just. Maybe take it a little slower?” She asked in a shaking voice with a smile on her lips.

“Of course. Slower.” He nodded and matched her smile despite the uneasiness.

“So uh, do you happen to know what year it is?” She asked in a dizzied tone.

“Slower.” He repeated with a small smile.

“Right.” 


End file.
